October 6, 1985: Yankees’ Phil Niekro notches win number 300

Denied in his first four tries at notching career win number 300, the New York Yankees’ Phil Niekro decided to try something different. Rather than relying on his signature knuckleball, a pitch that had brought him five All-Star nods and three 20-win seasons, Niekro threw everything else he had in the first 8 2/3 innings of his fifth try – and it worked. Facing the Toronto Blue Jays the day after they’d clinched the 1985 American League East Division title, the 46-year-old Niekro tossed a four-hit shutout, becoming the first pitcher in 95 years to win his 300th game with a shutout, and the oldest major leaguer to ever throw one.1

The Yankees entered their season-ending three-game series in Toronto trailing the first-place Blue Jays by three games. If they could win the first two games, Niekro would be pitching the last game, on October 6, with a chance to pull New York into a first-place tie.2

The Yankees won the series opener, but Doyle Alexander eliminated the Bronx Bombers from playoff contention the next day, giving the Blue Jays their first-ever division title. It rendered the last game of the series irrelevant to the standings, but no less urgent to Niekro. He desperately wanted number 300 for his father, Phil Sr., who lay gravely ill in a West Virginia hospital. It was Phil Sr. who taught both Niekro and his younger brother Joe, also a Yankees hurler, how to throw a knuckleball as youngsters.3

Signed in January of 1984 after the Atlanta Braves released him, Niekro had been a stalwart of the Yankees rotation during his two years with the team. New York’s Opening Day starting pitcher in 1985, he carried a 15-12 record into the season finale, having thrown more innings and earned more victories than anyone not named Ron Guidry.4 His five straight winning decisions in August and early September had been instrumental as New York clawed its way back into playoff contention. That streak ended with a loss to the Blue Jays in New York on September 13, in what was Niekro’s first attempt at win number 300.

A crowd of 44,422 turned out at Exhibition Stadium on a brisk Sunday afternoon for the finale, many hoping to see the home team, not Niekro, make history.5 With a record of 99-61, the nine-season-old Blue Jays were one victory from the franchise’s first 100-win campaign.

Toronto manager Bobby Cox, who admitted the day before that he’d like to see Niekro get 300,6 opted to rest all but one of his regulars in preparation for the AL Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals. Hoping to get the three at-bats he needed to reach 600 for the year, All-Star second baseman and former Yankee Dámaso García was the only everyday player in the Blue Jays starting lineup.7 Cox put sparingly-used Rule 5 selections at shortstop (20-year-old Manny Lee) and right field (22-year-old Lou Thornton), and September call-ups at third base (Kelly Gruber) and center field (Ron Shepherd).

The Blue Jays battery was equally untested. Rookie catcher Jeff Hearron, playing in his fourth major-league game, was calling signals for rookie southpaw John Cerutti, who was starting his first. A starter in 27 games for Triple-A Syracuse, Cerutti hadn’t pitched more than 1 1/3 innings in any of his three relief appearances since joining the Blue Jays.

Unlike Cox, Yankee manager Billy Martin rolled out a lineup packed with regulars. It didn’t take them long to get to Cerutti. With one out in the first, Don Mattingly bounced a single over rookie first baseman Cecil Fielder’s head, then advanced to second on a breaking ball that Hearron couldn’t corral.8 One out later, DH Don Baylor drew a walk, after which Andre Robertson reached on García’s throwing error. With the bases loaded, Cerutti hit Willie Randolph to force in a run.

Henry Cotto followed by lining a single to left. Rick Leach, a former University of Michigan All-American quarterback, made a strong throw to the plate, but Robertson slid under Hearron’s tag, putting New York up 3-0. Cerutti walked Butch Wynegar to reload the bases but escaped further damage when Bob Meacham skied to center.

Staked to a three-run lead, Niekro relied on smoke and mirrors to face the minimum number of batters over the first three innings. In the first, he fanned Leach and Thornton on a pair of eephus pitches that would have made Rip Sewell proud.9 After a leadoff second-inning walk to Fielder,10 Niekro’s sinking fastball got DH Jeff Burroughs, a former Atlanta Braves teammate buried on the Toronto bench, to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.11

Niekro surrendered his first hit in the fourth, a two-out single up the middle by Fielder. Leach, on first after drawing a walk, advanced to third on the hit, but was left stranded when Burroughs took a called strike three on a slow curveball.

The Yankees added a pair of runs in the fifth off reliever Jim Acker, the first of three relievers Cox called on in the game.12 A week removed from his last appearance, Acker surrendered a leadoff single to Mattingly, then retired the next two batters. Lefty Mike Pagliarulo, hitting for Robertson, his third base platoon-mate, gave the Yankees a five-run lead when he drilled a center-cut fastball high over the right-field fence and onto the football field beyond it.13

The Blue Jays had no better luck against Niekro in innings five through seven than they had early on. They were retired on six pitches in the fifth and wasted a leadoff walk in the sixth. In the seventh, Burroughs dropped a two-out double down the left-field line for Toronto’s second hit, but was left stranded. All the while, Niekro threw not a single knuckleball, feeding Toronto hitters what he later described as “some fastballs, slow curves and a lot of dead fish.”14

New York tacked on three more runs in the final two innings, all coming via the long ball: a two-run shot to left center by Cotto off Bill Caudill in the eighth (the first round-tripper of the Manhattan native’s major-league career), and a solo blast to right in the ninth by Mattingly, giving him four hits in the game. Mattingly’s homer, off rookie southpaw Steve Davis, gave the soon-to-be-crowned AL MVP a total of 35 for the season and a league-leading 145 RBIs – the most by an American Leaguer since 1953, or by a Yankee since Joe DiMaggio plated 155 in 1948.15

Although he had no intention of pulling Niekro with an 8-0 lead, Martin pulled his chain entering the bottom of the ninth. He briefly had a trio of relievers throwing in the bullpen as if preparing to enter the game.16 “I didn’t expect that,” Niekro said later. “Knowing Billy, it didn’t surprise me.”17

Niekro began the ninth by retiring Leach on a comebacker and Thornton on a foul pop to Wynegar. Showing their appreciation for what he was about to achieve, the crowd rose to cheer Niekro on. Up to bat came Tony Fernández, the Blue Jays’ regular shortstop, hitting for Fielder.   Thrust into the surreal position of batting while Toronto fans were pulling for the opposing pitcher, Fernández doubled to the left-center-field alley.18

After Burroughs fouled off the next pitch, Martin sent Joe Niekro to the mound. “[He] asked if I wanted to walk Burroughs and pitch to the next guy [Gruber],” Phil Niekro revealed after the game. “I said I’d just as soon pitch to Burroughs. We were friends and played together in Atlanta.”19

Then, for the first time all game, Niekro threw a knuckleball. It missed outside, but the next three were on the mark. Burroughs flailed at the last one, striking out in what proved to be his final regular-season major-league at-bat.20 As Niekro walked off the mound to be mobbed by his teammates, WPIX-11 announcer Phil Rizzuto exclaimed, “Holy cow! What a way to end it.”21

“I always wanted to pitch a whole game without throwing knuckleballs,” a happy Niekro told reporters. “Today I said, ‘Let’s go out in the first inning and see if I can get them out without throwing a knuckleball.’ I did, so I didn’t throw any in the second inning, and then I went from there.”22 

Cox was unconcerned about the loss. “If you have to lose, I didn’t mind at all losing to Knucksie, that’s for sure. Besides, I don’t think the 1927 Yankees could have beat him today.”23

With his win, Niekro became the 18th major-league hurler to record 300 wins and the second to do so in 1985; Tom Seaver won his 300th for the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium on August 4. At 46 years and 188 days, Niekro surpassed Satchel Paige as the oldest major leaguer to author a shutout, a record he held until 2010.24

As remarkable as those achievements were, Niekro admitted that the high point of his day was learning that his father was out of intensive care. “I’m gonna bring him my hat and my baseball. He was as much a part of these 300 wins as I was.”25

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Phil Niekro, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the WPIX telecast of this game and the Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and Stathead.com websites, including box scores listed at these links:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR198510060.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1985/B10060TOR1985.htm

Notes

1 Not since Mickey Welch of the New York Giants topped Pittsburgh, 1-0, on August 29, 1890, had a pitcher reached that milestone with a shutout. Bill Lamb, “Mickey Welch,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/mickey-welch/; “300 Win Club,” Baseball Almanac, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/pitching/pi300c.shtml, accessed January 12, 2025.

2 A tie would have meant that each team had to play a previously canceled game; the Blue Jays making up a game in Baltimore lost to a two-day players strike in August and the Yankees back home against the Detroit Tigers to make up a game rained out in September.

3 Tom Slater, “Phil Niekro Gets His 300th Win,” Toronto Star, October 7, 1985: C1. Hours before Niekro’s previous start, on September 30 at Yankee Stadium, Niekro had visited Phil Sr. along with Joe. “We promised we’d be back in a few days and would give him the game ball,” Joe told reporters “Niekro May Get One More Chance,” Hattiesburg (Mississippi) American, October 1, 1985: 4B.

4 Niekro’s 15 wins were already the most by a pitcher 46 or older, breaking Jack Quinn’s 1930 mark of 9. That record still stood as of the start of the 2025 season.

5 Attendance at this game pushed Toronto’s total for the year to 2,468,925, a franchise record that was surpassed two years later. Temperatures were in the mid-50s, with the sun peeking out from behind a mostly overcast sky throughout the game. The wind was blowing steadily out to right, similar to but less gusty than it had the day before. Strong winds in the October 5 game factored into how Alexander attacked Yankee hitters as well as the flight path for a trio of Blue Jay home runs in their 5-1 win. Larry DeFillipo,” Poetic Justice: Yankee Castoff Doyle Alexander leads Blue Jays to First AL East Crown,” SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-5-1985-poetic-justice-yankee-castoff-doyle-alexander-leads-blue-jays-to-first-al-east-crown/. Accessed February 11, 2025.

6 Milt Dunnell, “Former Discards Key Jays’ Assault on Yankees,” Toronto Star, October 6, 1985: 2-BLUEJAY

7 “Phil Niekro Gets His 300th Win.” An inning after reaching his goal, Garcia was lifted and replaced by Garth Iorg.

8 Although the low and inside pitch to Dave Winfield bounced off Hearron’s glove, Cerutti was charged with a wild pitch.

9 Jim Naughton, “Niekro No-Knucks 300th,” New York Daily News (National Edition), October 7, 1985: C26. A Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher in the 1940s, Sewell threw his trademark eephus pitch roughly 25 feet high so as to cross the plate nearly vertically.

10 Fielder was batting cleanup for the first time in his 13-year career. By the time he retired in 1998, Fielder had batted cleanup in over 1,050 games.

11 The 1974 American League MVP as a Texas Ranger, Burroughs had been the Blue Jays’ primary DH early in the season but his lack of power led to fewer playing opportunities once the club acquired Al Oliver in July. After Cliff Johnson rejoined Toronto in August, Burroughs became strictly a pinch-hitter.

12 When Aker first started warming up, WPIX announcer Phil Rizzuto joked about how the Blue Jays coaching staff decided who the first reliever up would be on the day after clinching the AL East flag: “They probably had to take a poll and see who had the least champagne last night.” WPIX telecast, 23:40 mark.

13 This was Robertson’s final game of a five-season career with the Yankees. Optioned to Triple-A Columbus in April 1986, he never made it back to the major leagues. Bill Madden, “Yanks Give Rasmussen No. 5 Spot,” New York Daily News, April 3, 1986: 85.

14 “Phil Niekro gets his 300th win.” During the WPIX telecast, announcers identified many Niekro pitches as knuckleballs, unable in the windy conditions to distinguish them from his other low-velocity offerings.

15 Al Rosen of the Cleveland Indians registered a league-leading 145 RBIs in 1953, a year in which he was selected AL MVP.

16 Rosie DiManno, “Jay Fans Cheering as Phil Gets 300,” Toronto Star, October 7, 1985: C5. Martin also sent Niekro’s brother Joe out to catch his ninth inning warm-up tosses. The three relievers weren’t identified in newspaper accounts of the game, but the uniform number for one of them was clearly visible in the WPIX telecast – number 36, Mike Armstrong. Based on their appearance and comparable heights, the author believes the other two were righty Brian Fisher and lefty Dave Righetti.

17 “Yanks’ Niekro Changes Style and Wins 300th.”

18 By pinch-hitting, Fernandez appeared in each of the Blue Jays’ 161 games in the 1985 regular season.

19 “Yanks’ Niekro Changes Style and Wins 300th.”

20 “Phil Niekro Gets His 300th Win.” Burroughs batted once in the ALCS, grounding out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning of Game Seven. It was his only career playoff appearance.

21 WPIX telecast, 2:32:45 mark.

22 “Yanks’ Niekro Changes Style and Wins 300th.”

23 Bill Madden, “An Oldie but Goldie from Phil,” New York Daily News, October 7, 1985: 41.

24 Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies was 47 years and 170 days old when he shut out the Atlanta Braves on May 7, 2010. “Oldest Pitcher to Record a Shutout,” Statmuse, https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/oldest-pitcher-to-record-a-shutout, accessed September 30, 2024.

25 Jim Naughton, “Niekro No-Knucks 300th,” New York Daily News, October 7, 1985: 41.